Shame Day: The BC Government vs. BC Teachers

In full disclosure, for the last few weeks my husband John and I have been working as uncertified Teachers on Call and/or Teacher’s Aides on Call. In my couple weeks attempting to fill the shoes of regular teachers and TAs, I’ve realized that this is an incredibly difficult job. Even though I’ve really loved my experience so far, it’s hard not to notice the ways that teachers are strapped when it comes to providing a good educational experience for the kids.

It’s become particularly frustrating over the last few weeks as the BC Teacher’s Union and the Government of British Columbia have gone head-to-head in a battle over several key issues. This has resulted in strikes by the Teacher’s Union and a lock-out by the province (preventing teachers from assisting at lunch, recess, and at extra curricular activities after school). Most teachers I’ve encountered feel frustrated at having to strike, but they are even more frustrated at being locked-out from helping their students.

B.C. teachers haven’t had a salary increase since July 2010 and are demanding higher wages and benefits.

According to the provincial government, teachers want a 15.9 per cent raise over the next four years that amounts to about 21 per cent with benefits and other provisions factored in.

Teachers have also been adamant about smaller class sizes and limits to how many special needs children are allowed in a single classroom.

They want guaranteed levels of specialist teachers and extra lesson-planning time, as well as more one-on-one support for students who need extra help.

The BC Teachers’ Federation maintains the province’s education funding allots $1,000 less per student than the Canadian average.

What the government’s offering:

The province has backed off on its demand for a 10-year contract and increased its offer to a 7.25 per cent pay hike over six years. It also offered a $1,200 signing bonus if teachers sign by the end of June.

There is no compromise on class size or composition.

The B.C. Public School Employers’ Association’s chief negotiator said meeting all the teachers’ demands would cost $2 billion, or about $1,000 per taxpayer.

Money

We can try to dance around the issue, but we all know money is what everyone really wants to know about. Do teachers need a higher income? Are they just being greedy?

As a starving student who has suddenly come into regular income, teaching looks like a great job. Yet I am continually warned by those around me that I’d better love it if I’m willing to put up with all the extra unpaid labour and stress that goes along with it.

My mother-in-law and I just sat calculating approximately how much she makes hourly, taking into account her prep time. After she came up with the amount she responded with a “well, good thing I like my job!”. I don’t want to violate her privacy by sharing the exact amount we arrived at, but I was able to access some public information about teacher’s wages that I can share with you. According to these wage charts, BC teachers make anywhere from $40,000 to $70,000 annually depending on their years of experience and level of education. According to Global’s “number crunch” the average teacher salary is a little under $50,000. At first glance that sounds like a lot, eh?

$50,000 / 185 days of school /5 hours a day = $54 an hour

A BC teacher, spending his money. Oh wait, no, that’s Leo.

In reality most teachers give up at least a month of their summer (30+ days) and a good chunk of their weekends to prep or undergo more training. The majority of teachers also spend their “breaks” helping students, plus extra prep time before and after classes (let’s go with something conservative, like adding 3 more hours a day). So very roughly calculating those changes we end up with a considerably reduced wage:

$50,000 / 215 days of work / 8 hours a day = $29 an hour

For me, $29 an hour is still looking pretty good. Yes, it means saving up so you have enough to last for that unpaid part of the summer, but it’s certainly more than I’m making now. Let’s step back for a second here and give teacher wages some context, by comparing them to Peter Cameron’s wages, for example.

Meanwhile, the government has begun docking the pay of BC Teachers (10%) until they give up on their demands. One school psychologist, Todd Kettner was even docked $600 while working 70 hours of overtime counselling grieving students after the death of 4 young people in a small community. His letter to Christy Clark has since gone viral. In it he expresses his view of public educators:

I’m a psychologist who has worked in [myriad] publicly funded and private hospitals … I chose to leave the world of private health care in order to try and make a difference in public education. I felt that the substantial pay cut would be worth it in order to join the ranks of so many dedicated teachers, educational assistants, health care professionals, special education teachers, counsellors, school administrators and trustees who strive selflessly every day to help children and youth flourish.

You’re already read the flood of letters from frustrated teachers begging the government to invest in your child’s education system. Even if you don’t have kids, you probably still know a teacher (or several) firsthand and know exactly how badly they want to offer the best educational experience possible for their students.

In fact, the majority of you already support the teachers in this dispute.

As an aspiring teacher I’m scared of what the future of BC will look like if the BC government continues to bully teachers into putting up with an underfunded school system. Shame on you BC Liberals. Our kids, and teachers, deserve better than this.

Many teachers feel that the government is happy to just leave the strike to play out. That way they save the money they would normally be paying our teachers as parents scramble to find childcare for their children. At this point, teachers don’t have a lot of leverage in this issue. While the BCTF job action frustrates parents, the BC government is quite happy to save money by letting the strike continue. That’s why we need to help give teachers a voice.

8 responses to “Shame Day: The BC Government vs. BC Teachers”

Thank you for your support. I am a grade five teacher and feel the pressure every day. It’s astounding that this short sighted government cannot see that education is an investment not a business with profit and loss statement. Teachers want to insure that children grow up to be creative problem solvers and critical thinkers that will be prepared to deal with challenges in their future

Good, if somewhat biased article.
So where do you expect the money to come from? Shall we cut healthcare? Programs for natives? You’ll need $2B to fund the teachers and it won’t come from having MLAs give up a portion of their wages.

The money should come from and always has come from taxes. That’s what taxes are for: we all share in the upkeep of roads, hospitals, schools, etc.This government has decreased taxes to corporations which results in decreased revenues, which resulted in this case to decreased funding to education. In other words, lowering corporate tax to one of the lowest in Canada was a priority over properly funding education.
Time to change that folks. It’s not right.

Support the teachers 100%…they are doing the right thing and it is coming at a personal cost to them.The public should take heed and get behind public education and the people who care about student’s class sizes and the composition of their classes.A strong education system should be available to as many students as possible.It should be one of the pillars to help break the cycle of child poverty in this province.